Inedia Diet - Breatharians

A breatharian is someone who believes that food (and possibly water)
are not necessary for human sustenance. Breatharians claim that the
body can be sustained solely by prana (the vital life force in Hinduism),
or according to some, by the energy in sunlight. There have been no
verified cases of this occurring indefinitely to date.

Breatharianism or inedia may also refer to this philosophy practiced
as a lifestyle in place of the usual diet. While it is often seen as
an esoteric practice performed by eastern ascetics, recently some groups
such as the Breatharian Institute of America have promoted the practice
as an option for anybody, once the proper techniques for accessing it
are made known.

Both current scientific theories about nutrition and generally accepted
common sense indicate that a person who followed this practice in the
long term would die of starvation (if abstaining from food) or dehydration
(if abstaining from food and water). As breatharians have seldom submitted
themselves to medical testing, there is currently little evidence to
support their claims.

Jasmuheen

Jasmuheen (born Ellen Greve) was probably the most famous advocate
of breatharianism during the 1990s. She claimed "I can go for months
and months without having anything at all other than a cup of tea. My
body runs on a different kind of nourishment."Several interviewers
found her house full of food, but she claimed the food was for her husband.
In 1999, she volunteered to be monitored closely by Australia's 60 Minutes
for one month without eating to demonstrate her methods. After Greve
had fasted for four days, Dr. Berris Wink, president of the Queensland
branch of the Australian Medical Association, urged her to stop the
test. According to the doctor, Greve’s pupils were dilated, her
speech was slow, she was dehydrated and her pulse had doubled. The doctor
feared kidney damage if she continued with the fast. The test was stopped.
She claimed it was due to stress and pollution from a nearby road. Greve
claimed that she failed because on the first day of the test she had
been confined in a hotel room near a busy road, which kept her from
getting the nutrients she needs from the air. “I asked for fresh
air. Seventy percent of my nutrients come from fresh air. I couldn’t
even breathe,” she said. However, the last three days of the test
took place at a mountainside retreat where she could get plenty of fresh
air and where she claimed she could now live happily. She challenged
the results of the program, saying, "Look, 6,000 people have done
this around the world without any problem".

The well-publicized deaths of 49-year-old Australian-born Scotland
resident Verity Linn, 31-year-old Munich kindergarten teacher Timo Degen,
and 53-year-old Melbourne resident Lani Marcia Roslyn Morris while attempting
to enter the breatharian "diet" have drawn further criticism
of the idea. Jim Vadim Pesnak, 63, and his wife Eugenia, 60, went to
jail for three years on charges of manslaughter for their involvement
in the death of Morris.

Verity Lynn, the Scottish woman who inadvertently killed herself by
choosing the Breatharian "diet" was a nominee for the 1999
Darwin Awards. She took to the highlands, the article says, "with
only a tent and her grit and determination." She died of hypothermia
and dehydration, aggravated by lack of food. Jasmuheen claimed that
her death was brought on by a psycho-spiritual problem, rather than
a physiological one.

Jasmuheen has denied any involvement with the three deaths and claims
she cannot be held responsible for the actions of her followers.

Jasmuheen was awarded the Bent Spoon award by Australian Skeptics in
2000 ("presented to the perpetrator of the most preposterous piece
of paranormal or pseudoscientific piffle").

Prahlad Jani

Prahlad Jani, a fakir, spent ten days under strict observation by physicians
in Ahmedabad, India in 2003. During the observation, he was given only
100 millilitres of water a day to use as mouthwash, which was collected
and measured after he used it, to make sure he hadn't consumed any.
Throughout the observation, he passed no urine or stool, but doctors
say urine appeared to form in the bladder, only to be reabsorbed. However,
despite Jani's claim to have gone without food for decades, Jani was
not engaged in strenuous exercise during the ten-day trial, and longer
trials were not recorded under similarly strict observation. Further,
his weight did drop slightly during the 10 days to later stabilize,
casting some doubt on his claim to go indefinitely without food. Jani
claims a goddess sustains him through nectar that filters down through
a hole in his palate.

Roman Catholicism also has traditions of inedia, in which saints are
able to go for months or years without any food (or with no food but
Communion).Such saints include:

* Alphais
* Helen Enselmini
* Elisabeth the Good
* Lydwina of Schiedam
* Mary Ann de Paredes
* Nicholas of Flue (According to legend, he survived for nineteen years
with no food except for the eucharist.)

Other explanations

Other than a simple confidence trick, skeptics can also point to somnambulism
as an alternative explanation for this purported phenomenon. The most
common sleep activity is sleepwalking, but activities such as eating,
dressing or even driving cars have also been recorded as taking place
while the subjects are technically asleep.